Facets of Belief
by Uniasus
Summary: AT - When his staff is broken, Jack can't make it to Jamie's in time and the Guardians loose their power. But Jack's power doesn't come from the belief of children, so the Guardians are determiend to find him and discover for themselves another source of power.
1. Powerless

Facets of Belief

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter One - Powerless**

* * *

Jack knew his staff was made of wood, and yet he had never thought of it as breakable. So the fact that it snapped as easily as an icicle from a side mirror was very surprising. The fact that it hurt, that he could feel his heart crack at the same time, was terrifying.

There was nothing he could have done to prevent Pitch's attack, he was too focused on the pain to even see it coming. It hit him like one of Bunny's kicks, compounding his chest pain. He blacked out when his head hit the icy rock, but he knew it had just been a matter of time before his splintering heart sent him to the darkness.

#####

Baby Tooth shook herself awake, the action sending her dull headache into a piercing pain that soon faded. She was cold, tooth fairies lacked the layer of down that would make long stays in either pole comfortable. Shivering, she buzzed her wings, but to her dismay they weren't working. The fairy was grounded.

She pushed herself up to her feet and took a few steps forward. They were unsteady, but Baby Tooth didn't know if that was due to not having set foot on the ground in centuries or because of the snow.

Once she got the hang of the terrain, she looked around. Rock walls, so some type of crevasse, and...was that Jack's staff? If he had lost it, surely he'd come looking for it and in the process find her.

She walked toward it, hand on the rock wall, and as she got closer she realized it was Jack's shepherd hook, albeit lacking its usual frost and in two pieces. After Pitch had backhanded her into a wall Baby Tooth had no idea what happened, but Jack and Pitch must have fought. And Jack lost.

Baby Tooth didn't think that was possible, he had been so strong the previous night when they all went teeth collecting together!

Jack would need his staff, but first she had to figure out how to get out of here. She doubted Tooth would be able to find her; she didn't know where Pitch had taken her and if she couldn't fly her boss wouldn't be able to either. Maybe if she fixed the staff, somehow, it would return to Jack, like Bunny's boomerangs, and she could hitch a ride. Yes, that was a good idea. Now all she needed was something to connect the two halves.

Baby Tooth pivoted slowly, taking in her surroundings.

Behind her was Jack Frost himself, lying against the rock wall and not moving.

She rushed towards him, forgetting her wings didn't work so that all she did was land face first in the snow when she took a step. Not minding the bend in her nose, she ran towards Jack, calling his name, but he didn't stir.

Even when she viciously stabbed her nose into his thumb after everything else failed to rouse him, Jack didn't move.

Well, at least he was still breathing, she thought. That was good.

Baby Tooth made her way back towards the staff. Maybe if she fixed it, Jack would get better. But she knew it was beyond her supplies and abilities. She couldn't even lift a piece of it, and rolling the part without the hook took more effort than she thought it would. She moved it maybe a foot closer to the still Guardian before she was too exhausted to do more.

She staggered towards Jack and wearily climbed up his sweatshirt until she was at the neck of the fabric. His skin was ice cold, but perched were she was Baby Tooth could feel the faintest hint of warm breath. She thought about nesting in the pouch of his sweatshirt, it would certainly warmer, but she was also worried that at some point the air leaving Jack's mouth would stop.

The small fairy hoped that someone, and not Pitch, found them soon.

It started to snow.

* * *

**A/N: **Alright, here we go! Massive story, all complete, but no promises on regular updates. This baby is looking for betas, if you're interested.


	2. Magical Objects

Facets of Belief

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter Two – Magical Objects**

* * *

Tooth fell to her knees as she realized Jamie couldn't see her. The last light, gone.

To make matters worse, a car drove down the street and passed right through her, the other Guardians, and North's sleigh.

"It's over," North said, supporting himself against the side of his sleigh. Tooth doubted he could stand on his own. At least she could, though quick movement was beyond her. And her poor wings! The drooped behind her, dead limbs.

"Pitch won," Bunny said, voice full of disbelief. "I didn't think that was possible. This is all Jack's fault!"

Tooth didn't say anything to the contrary, despite how much that statement hurt. She didn't believe Jack had intentionally stayed away and allowed the nightmares to attack unchallenged. Her words of blame, and those of the other Guardians from that morning, rang in her feathers and she regretted them.

Jack Frost was a different breed and he had said from the beginning Guardian work was not for him. Tooth was sure Pitch had had something to do with Jack's delay, but the younger Guardian hadn't mentioned the Boogieman's role. Playing on his desires and fears she guessed. Additionally, Tooth wasn't entirely sure if Jack realized the full impact of Pitch's actions. Sandy's loss took its toll on everyone, but what was the sudden disbelief in another Guardian to one who hadn't had a single person believe in him for three hundred years?

A Guardian who had no one believing in him, even his peers, who still had incredible powers.

"Bunny, you're brilliant!" Tooth said, picking him up and spinning in an unsteady circle. At a normal rabbit size, he fit in her hands quite nicely.

"Put me down! Put me down!"

She did, on the wing of the sleigh and turned to North. "We have to find Jack."

"What?"

"That kid is selfish," Bunny said, crossing his forepaws. "And at this point, he's probably sided with Pitch. Cold and dark go hand in hand, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, but I don't believe he would side with Pitch."

"He did come back," North put in, "Even if he was late. He would not do that if he joined Pitch."

"I don't care! Easter is ruined and I'm like this because of that stupid show pony."

"But he fought so hard for Sandy," Tooth said.

"Before he switched sides."

"I do not believe Jack would wish to make children scared of him. He is too not serious enough for that."

"Even if Jack doesn't want to fight with us anymore," and really, Tooth wondered about that herself, "he can still help. He can fly and destroyed all those nightmares last night _without getting strength from children believing in him._ His powers come from someplace else. If he could tell us from where, then maybe we could go back to our old selves and fight Pitch. "

"But we don't know where Jack is." North pointed out. "And reindeer ran off, so even if we did I couldn't take us there."

Bunny hopped to the asphalt and stamped. "Lost my tunnels too. And there's no way you can carry all three of us Tooth. Even if you were at peak power."

"Fine. Think then, what does Jack have that we don't."

"White hair."

"You have that North."

"A bad attitude."

"Bunny!"

"Hey, it's true."

"What about his staff?"

North rubbed his belly absently. "That is were ice comes from."

"So he gets his powers from an object, not the children. Where did his staff come from?"

"No clue, sheila."

"North, what about your snow globe? That's an object. Does it work?"

North searched through his pockets and pulled out the standless snow globe he used as a short cut between places. "The Pole," he said to it. The snow inside swirled and then settled into an image of his home, and Guardian headquarters, sitting amongst snow peaks. "Ah-ha! It works!"

Bunny looked hopeful as he hopped up to the sleigh and then along the edge of the carriage to peer into the orb. "Things are looking up! Maybe we don't need Jack. Where'd you get that North?"

"Uh...I don't remember."

"We've used the Globe before to find each other, and others who aren't Guardians. Remember Cupid?" Tooth said.

"Please don't mention that name. Showing off his skin like that and spewing awful poetry."

"I thought it was pretty."

"You're a girl."

" Humpf!"

"Tooth is right. We can use Globe to find Jack. Don't forget Bunny, Manny chose him to be Guardian. He will help us."

"Your belly telling you that?"

"Yes."

"Well, I doubt things could be worse."

North threw the snow globe and the swirling colors of a magic portal appeared. Out stepped two yeti, who North instructed to push the sleigh through to get it back for repairs. One of them grumbled, but both beasts were able to push the large transport through and the Guardians walked into the portal behind them.

The North Pole was cold. Most of the building had been powered with the magic of wonder, but now the lights were dim and Tooth could feel the chill leaking in. She shivered and one of the yeti offered her a shawl obviously made of shed fur. "Thank you," she said as she wrapped it around herself. It felt heavy on her wings and would hamper a quick take off, if she was capable of that.

"Will the Globe even work?" Bunny asked. The Globe was still bright blue and green, but not a single light shone on it's surface and Tooth thought it made the colors dull. "I mean, the heat's not even on."

"It will work, because it must." North pressed buttons, clicked a knob, and then turned a handle to the left before pushing down. Instantly the Globe showed lights, most a pale blue. These were the minor guardians, the spirits of modest importance, reputation, and power levels to match. Three white lights stood clustered at the North Pole, them.

"I knew it would work." North said with a laugh.

"Is Jack white or blue?" Tooth asked.

"Good question. I do not know. He never took oath."

"Good riddance," Bunny said under his breath.

"Well, where is his home?"

"That I also do not know." North frowned.

"When he interferes with Easter, it's always worse in the American Midwest," Bunny offered. "And that's where we found him that first night."

"America it is."

Tooth watched North rotate the Globe until they were looking at America and not Africa. The only blue light was in the Southwest, a spot she knew Jack didn't often go too. It was too hot and his ice melted too quickly. "He's not there," she lamented.

"North, bring the South Pole into view. I can't tell if that's a light or not."

At his current size, Bunny was right at eye level with the pole. North adjusted the Globe so the South Pole was no longer facing the floor. There was a white light near its center.

"That's him!" Tooth exclaimed but even as she said it the light representing Jack Frost dimmed. Just before it faded into the white painted landmass it grew in luminosity only to decrease again. "What does that mean?"

"It means Jack is in trouble. Elves! Find me distance weapon. I am no good now with swords."

The yeti brought a fur lined bag that reluctantly Bunny was coaxed into and Tooth hung over her shoulder. "We will never speak of this in the future," the small rabbit said as they watched North make some adjustments to potato shooters.

"No promises."

"Tooth, I swear, if you tell the Groundhog about my current situation - "

"I promise not to tell Phil or any of the minor guardians about it, but that is all you're getting."

Bunny grumbled from inside the bag.

"Oh, it's not that bad. I think you're rather cute when you're small. And you have to admit, this way you're not going to be cold."

"Ready?" North asked before Bunny could respond.

Tooth nodded.

"Some yeti will come with, they are useful." North shook the orb, said South Pole, and then tossed it. He stepped through, using a wooden stick painted like a candy cane as a walking stick instead of one of his swords like before. Tooth followed and it was only after her feet touched snow she realized she should have asked for shoes.

The South Pole was in the middle of a blizzard. Tooth couldn't see much beyond ten feet. "How are we supposed to find him in this?" she shouted above the wind. She had to repeat it, at a louder volume, to North's ear before he heard her. The way his face fell told her he had no clue, but one of the yeti came to their rescue. He tapped their shoulders and then showed them the miniature Globe in his hands. The three steady white lights and the oscillating one were not far apart under normal conditions, but Tooth suspected in this weather it could take them hours to reach Jack. The yeti did something to the Globe and it zoomed it. The distance between them and Jack increased, but there was also now a green arrow pointing in the direction they needed to go hovering over the entire device. Tooth made a note to ask for a miniature Globe for Christmas.

They fell into single file, the yeti with the Globe leading, followed by North, Tooth with ride-along-Bunny, and then the other yeti. It was a quiet march. Conversation was too difficult and the cold sapped her thoughts. Tooth found herself jealous of Bunny's position, all curled up in a closed, warm space. She had long ago stopped feeling her fingers and toes.

The fourth time she stumbled, the rear yeti scooped her up and brought her to her chest. Shouting into her ear, North asked if she wanted to go back to his place. Tooth shook her head. "We need to find Jack, his light on the Globe is not as bright at it's peak. Besides, we're almost there."

They continued on, Tooth held close by the yeti while North trudged on ahead of her. It was obvious he was having a hard time, he was leaning on the cane heavily, but it didn't seem like the cold was getting to him like it did her. She supposed it came from living at the North Pole, the conditions here couldn't be that different. For her however, it was much colder than atop her Indian mountain peak.

It was perhaps an hour later that the lead yeti stopped and motioned towards the Globe in his hand. North nodded and as Tooth and company joined them she could see all four lights were practically in the same place. The wind had let up, it no longer howled and if they wanted they could hold a conversation at a decent decibel, but no one had the strength to put in such an effort. It was still snowing, though as Tooth unburied her face from the yeti's chest she noticed the visibility had improved drastically.

In fact, she could see something shining not too far away.

Tooth tugged on a bit of fur and directed the yeti's attention to it. He in turn pointed it out to the others and they all headed towards it. It was a huge ice structure, easily twenty feet high, and as they got closer Tooth could see it was made of Pitch's black sand forced to a standstill. The way the ice flew back against the wind made her think that Jack and Pitch had fought here, and Jack had defended himself well.

Tooth nudged the bag sitting on her stomach. Bunny poked his disheveled head out, she got the distinct impression he had been sleeping. Lucky rabbit, that bag must be really insulated.

"Still think Jack joined Pitch?" she pointed towards the spiky shape before them and Tooth could tell Bunny was mildly impressed.

"Maybe they're practicing combos."

Tooth rolled her eyes. "If that was the case, I don't think Jack's light would be fading."

"Is it really fading?"

She nodded. "But we're close."

Apparently, they were close enough that the arrow on the Globe had disappeared, but there was still no sign of Jack.

"What way?" Tooth asked.

The leading yeti shrugged, but North pointed towards a rock wall. "My belly says that way." No one argued.

Three steps later, Tooth felt it. The connection with one of her fairies. They shared a light psychic link, just enough to tell if one was nearby. It helped her know who was around to send into the field to collect a tooth.

"One of my fairies is here!" She pushed at the yeti and he dropped her into the snow with a yetish curse. Tooth didn't mind the sudden rush of cold, she was running as well as she could. Bunny had his head out of the bag and was looking forward.

"You hear that?" he asked and Tooth did. It was the squeaks of the fairy language; even faint Tooth would recognize it anywhere.

She was so focused on the voice and presence of her fairy, whom she identified as the one Jack had saved from the nightmares, and named, that she didn't notice the rift in the surface until Bunny shouted. By then it was too late, she was falling. By some miracle she didn't hit her head on the way down but she did land on Bunny.

At his muffled curses, she quickly stood up. "Good thing you're light," he gasped.

"Are you okay?"

Tooth looked up to see North and the two yeti looking down at them. "Yes, we're fine. My fairy is down here somewhere."

North muttered something about not having rope, but then the yeti who had been carrying her produced some.

"We're coming down!" North shouted.

Tooth nodded to say she had heard him, but focused instead on finding her fairy. Knowing Baby Tooth wouldn't be able to fly, Tooth fell to her hands and knees to search the ground. Bunny hopped in the opposite direction.

There was a large, strange mound of snow in front of her, covered rocks perhaps, and as Tooth watched something emerged from the snow.

"Baby Tooth!" she said, diving to cup the small fairy in her hands and bring her to her face. "I'm so glad you're okay. I thought Pitch got you."

Baby Tooth went straight into the tale of how she tried to get Jack to ignore the voice calling his name, she really did, but well, instead they ended up in Pitch's home and Jack got distracted by the teeth canisters and Pitch decided -

"Tooth, it's him."

Tooth looked up from Baby Tooth to see that Bunny had nosed at part of the snow mound and revealed a pale hand, fingertips blue and turning black.

"Jack!"

In a rush, she brushed the snow off the younger Guardian. Bunny and Baby Tooth helping as they could. Tooth moved him from leaning against the cold rock to lying on the snow.

Jack looked awful. He was supposed to be in charge of ice and snow, he wasn't supposed to get a red nose after hours outside in winter and he certainly wasn't supposed to have the beginnings of frostbite evident on several parts of his body.

"What happened to him?" Bunny asked and Baby Tooth fast forwarded her story until Pitch chased Jack down here.

Knowing Bunny couldn't understand the fairy language, Tooth translated. "Pitch found Jack here and suggested they team up, but Jack said no and told him to go away. And then Pitch reveled Baby Tooth clutched in his fist and told Jack he'd let her go if he gave up his staff. Bunny...he did. Pitch refused to let Baby go, so she stabbed his thumb and he hit her hard enough to land her. She says, she says Pitch broke Jack's staff, it's over there somewhere, and Jack hasn't moved since Pitch threw him here. She's worried."

"He gave up his staff?"

"Yes." Tooth knelt by Jack's head and brushed his bangs back from his forehead. "I guess he is a Guardian."

"I guess. I'm gonna find his staff."

Tooth nodded, and then set about checking Jack's condition. Feet and hands definitely frozen, lips and eyelids blue and she suspected a nasty bump on the back of his head. She placed her ear to his mouth and heard him breathing, short shallow breaths with a rattle that was worrisome. What bothered her even more was that in bringing her ear to his mouth she had also brought her hand to his chest _and she didn't feel a heartbeat_.

"What's wrong?" She looked up to see North standing over her, Bunny on his shoulder and one of the yeti holding Jack's staff, now in two pieces.

"He's breathing, but North, he doesn't have a heartbeat."

"What?" The big man bent down to check for himself and confirmed what Tooth found with a confused shake of his head. "Maybe it's slow. Hours in blizzard will do things to a body, even Jack Frost. Let's go back." He tossed the snow globe and they walked through the portal back to the North Pole.

"Elves, start fire, in guest room." North commanded as he strode down a hallway, Jack lying limply in his arms.

By the time they reached the guest room, the yeti had already made the bed with extra blankets. The elves had yet to light the wood, but had lit each other's hats a number of times. Tooth took off her yeti shawl and spread it over Jack. She knew in a moment she would again want something to keep her warm, but compared to the South Pole, North's place was cozy and Jack needed all the warmth he could get.

"Come," North said, pulling her away from the bed. "We need food."

Tooth let herself be pulled away and smiled when she saw Baby Tooth nestle in to the side of Jack's neck.

**#####**

"So now what?" Bunny asked around the carrot he was nibbling. "Jack's not in shape to tell us anything at the moment."

"We can collect teeth again, that will help."

"What? With my broken tunnels and your old man limp? And Tooth's useless wings?"

"Yeti and elves will collect! Sure, they will not get them all, but they will get some and that's a start, yes? We will bring Christmas in six months, to small town where I can get to every child. The whole world didn't believe in us at first. The belief was small then grew."

"And let Pitch continue to scare the kids all over the rest of the world? Doesn't sit right with me."

Tooth poked at her honey and bread. "If only I had access to the memories. Jack's, or yours North. We could see if you remember being given the snow globe. "

One of the yeti said something and North translated. "Jack has his memories. They found them in his sweatshirt."

"Really?" Tooth looked up from her meal, beaming at the yeti. "Can you bring it here?"

The yeti nodded and walked off. He returned with the teeth capsule, Baby Tooth catching a ride on top of it.

"How is he?" Tooth asked and the little fairy replied a little better. His face wasn't quite as blue.

The yeti handed over the teeth capsule and Tooth hesitated to touch the mosaic on top.

"Go on then."

"These aren't my memories. Looking at them without Jack's permission, I wouldn't do this unless I had to but I don't see what other choice there is. Pitch needs to be stopped and Jack is not going to wake up anytime soon.

"Also, I can't see all of them. Since I these memories aren't mine, I'll only be able to see one. And I only have partial control on which one I'll see. Just to confirm, we want to see who gave Jack his staff right?"

The other Guardians nodded. Tooth took a deep breath and placed her hand on the mosaic.

She knew instantly it was the wrong memory, for Jack's staff was lying on the frozen pond a few paces from him. Too late now, she was here and had no choice but to watch the memory play out.

"Jack, I'm scared."

Tooth realized the ice Jack and a small girl were on was cracking. She put her hands to her mouth, already picturing them both falling into the pond below. As she watched, Jack turned their survival into a game of hopscotch, first getting to his shepherd's hook and then distracting the girl, his sister based on family resemblance, so he could grab her with the staff and throw her out of harm's way. But the momentum forced Jack onto the weak ice, it cracked, he fell, and he drowned.

She came out of the memory with a gasp, sucking in huge lungfuls of air. She ignored North and Bunny leaning towards her, or Baby Tooth hovering near her right ear. Tooth was filled with a strong need to see Jack. She pushed her chair back and ran as well as she could to his room. It was only after she saw him, resting peacefully, chest rising, that her heart stopped beating so fast.

On tip toe, she approached the bed. After pulling back the covers, the fairy laid her head on Jack's chest.

"Tooth? What are you doing?" North asked from the doorway.

"Shh."

She closed her eyes to concentrate better, but Jack still didn't have a heart beat.

"Tooth?" North asked again after a minute.

"He's dead."

"What?" Bunny exclaimed, hopping off of North's shoulder to make it to the bed. Baby Tooth started crying perched on Jack's pillow.

"But he's breathing." North said.

"Yes, but, no heartbeat." Tooth lifted her head. "It wasn't just slow at the other pole, he doesn't have one. I don't think he has for three hundred years."

"Explain."

Tooth replaced the blankets and then turned to look at her fellow Guardians. "The memory I saw, it's probably his last one before he became Jack Frost, it was of him and his sister. He saved her from drowning, but died in the process. The Man in the Moon must have brought him back. Jack being dead explains a lot actually. Why he doesn't remember anything before he became a Guardian, why no one believes in him. Our first believers were people who knew us before we got our powers, but if everyone believed him dead...

"Anyway, this proves he's a real Guardian. Our oath asks us to be willing to give our lives for the children and he already has."

There was silence for a moment and then Bunny spoke. "I take it then you didn't learn anything about his staff."

Tooth shook her head. "He had it with him as a human."

"So we have no idea how to fight Pitch."

"We can still do as North suggested, pick a single town and work up from there. And I could get in contact with the European division."

"But we've already said that's too slow! The rest of the kids will be in danger."

"Nothing we can do." North said. "Maybe when Jack wakes up, he can tell us, but for now, we do what we can. Come, let Jack rest."

The Guardians filed out of the room. Tooth stopped at the doorway to look at the sleeping Jack. At least he did look better, from what she could see of him under all the layers the yeti had wrapped him in. Baby Tooth was settling down for the night on his chest. If something happened in the night, the small fairy would tell her.

"Sleep well," Tooth whispered before silently closing the door.

* * *

**A/N:** Whoo! This is a doozy of a chapter. And I think the longest one in this fic. Many thanks to hasan for the beta!


	3. Consequences

Facets of Belief

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter Three - Consequences**

* * *

Jack wasn't pink and healthy the next morning, but then again he was never pink. Snow white hair and skin as cold and white as ice. But he was healthy, moderately so. His body ached, which made sense considering Pitch had thrown him into a cliff after breaking his staff.

His staff!

Jack sat up in a hurry, the sudden movement making his head swim. He closed his eyes to help the dizziness pass and when he opened them Baby Tooth was chirping at him from his lap.

"Hey, glad to see you're alright Baby Tooth." He rubbed the top of her head with his index finger while she chirped in happiness.

He looked around, confused as to the lack of snow and ice but not missing it. Wooden support for icy walls, a window view of a wintery world, and random Christmas ornaments strewn about the room told him he was at the Pole. But how, or why, North found him and brought him here was a mystery.

"Last time I checked, these guys hated me." Jack said, moving Baby Tooth to his shoulder and pushing the covers away. He was unsteady on his feet as he stood, but after a few wobbly steps managed to straighten out. No way he was going racing anytime soon, his body hurt too much for that. A sore back, a tender head, and worse of all a crushing pain in his chest.

Pitch really had taken his staff and broke it in two. Jack doubted the wind would take him anywhere now, or that he could freeze another kid's tongue to a drinking fountain.

Jack pushed that out of his mind. He had given up his staff willingly to save Baby Tooth, and here she was on his shoulder and he was..._free to roam in North's Pole_. He hadn't lied when he told North before he'd been trying to get in for years, and while he had seen more than he had ever before in the past few days Jack was sure there was more to see.

"What do you think Baby Tooth, should we go exploring?"

She answered with a nod and Jack slipped out of the room. First things first, get to the lifts and go all the way down. He'd really only seen a few levels, best to do them in order. And if the basement also held a red sleigh he was itching to touch, well.

It would be hard to avoid the yeti, but as Jack wasn't too sure what the situation surrounding his coming to the Pole was he figured it was the best bet.

The sleigh level was abandoned, to Jack's surprise. Last time it had been so busy, but maybe this was how it normally was when North wasn't preparing to leave. He hesitated in the mouth of the tunnel, the last time he was in one it wasn't happy, but brushed the feeling off. His fingers were itching to pet a reindeer.

But to his surprise, the stables were empty. There were six large stalls, full with hay to sleep on and water troughs that Jack suspected actually held eggnog instead of water. It wasn't clear at any rate. Each stall was cleaned, the wood gleaming from a fresh polish haphazardly applied that Jack attributed to the elves. Of the reindeer though, there was no sign. It made him uneasy.

Sure, he was pretty confident Easter was ruined this year, but Christmas was months to go yet! No way North was falling apart in April.

Jack changed his mind when he came to the tack room. The harnesses were beat up, the leather fraying. And in the large room beyond Jack noted four yeti, with a half dozen elves getting underfoot, making repairs to the sleigh. The paint was dull, there looked to be a runner missing, and one of the wings had splintered in half. There was no way it was capable of flying, not for awhile.

"I really, really screwed up didn't I Baby Tooth? Christmas and Easter, gone in one night. And I didn't release the other fairies when I had the chance."

The fairy on his shoulder said something in her language. Jack supposed it was something along the lines of it not being his fault,but he didn't really believe it.

Here he was, the guy of snowballs and fun times, and he couldn't think of anything fun to do. The thought of exploring the rest of the Pole wasn't interesting anymore, he doubted it would be anything like it had been a week ago, and Jack wasn't sure he could even conjure up a snowball without his staff and the ache in his chest.

Being invisible just got a thousand times harder.

There was a heavy hand on his shoulder. Jack tilted his head up to see Phil, the yeti who had single-handedly prevented most of his attempts to enter the Pole.

"Hey there buddy. Seems I missed some action."

The yeti made a low mumble that Jack took to be an affirmative and pulled him away from the sleigh. Gently, he steered Jack to the elevator and directed it to the main floor. As soon as the door opened there was a shout of 'Found him!' from Bunny, though Jack couldn't see the six foot one rabbit and then Tooth responded with a shouted 'Where?!' right before she rounded a corner.

On unsteady legs she ran to him and wrapped him in a hug. Jack did his best to hide his wince, he still ached and Tooth weighed more that he had expected for a creature with wings. Must be her large thighs.

Hesitantly he wrapped his arms around her and patted her on the wings.

She pulled away and hit him in the chest. His wince was visible, and her angry face smoothed out into one of worry.

"I went to check on you this morning and you weren't there! I had no idea what happened! What if Pitch came in the night and got you? Or you sleep walked out a window?"

"Tooth, relax. The kid is fine." Bunny said.

Jack looked around the feathered Guardian to see Bunny, but couldn't.

"Down here."

And there he was, not over six feet tall, but maybe over six inches long. The Easter Bunny was no different from any other rabbit, aside from the black markings. He even had a cute wiggly nose and a poofy belly. Jack had to stifle his laugh in his fist.

"Not funny, mate! This is all your fault!"

"Hey, I didn't turn you into that."

"No, you just ruined Easter." Bunny sat up and crossed his arms. "North is using a cane like a grandpa, and Tooth can't fly either."

Jack's smile dropped. He turned away.

Tooth placed her hand on his arm. "It's Pitch's fault, not yours. And things will go back to normal once the children believe again."

On impulse, Jack looked up at the Globe. There wasn't a single light shining.

"What will happen to you guys if they don't? Pitch said something about you disappearing if the children stopped believing."

Tooth nodded and started leading the way somewhere. Jack fell into step behind her, Bunny hopping near their feet.

"That's the thing about being a sworn Guardian. We get our power mainly from children expressing our center, what we Guard, – North from children's wonder at the world, Bunny from their hopes, Sandy," she struggled with the dead Guardian's name but continued,"from their dreams for the future, while I get mine from the happiness of past times. But we also survive on children's belief because it's connected to our centers."

"Kids are more likely to believe in me if they hope to find eggs Easter morning." Bunny threw in. "And that multiplies over the years. They found treats last year, hope to this year, and when they do their belief in me stays strong."

"It's this connection with our centers and belief that makes us different from the others, the Jack-o-Lantern or the Groundhog. Children believe in some of them to some extent, or not at all, but they don't have a trait that embodies them above all others that they can Guard in children."

"It is this trait that makes us Guardians and connects us."

Jack looked up to realize they had entered a dining hall of some sort. North had spoken from the head of the table where he was eating a whole fruitcake by the forkful.

"This connection," North continued, "allows us to get power from other Guardians. If children believe in Tooth, they believe in me and Bunny. If they stop believing in Tooth, I feel it too, though after she does."

"Their belief goes first," Bunny said from his new position on the tabletop. "And then what we are supposed to Guard usually. There are also some exceptions, there are adults who still display our centers. But it's never the same."

"And just as we are connected to each other, we are connected to the children. If they forget the important memories of childhood, then I will loose all my powers and go back to how I was before the Man in the Moon chose me."

"Is that what happened to Bunny?"

"Of a sort, he's rather dramatic. He's gotten smaller faster than he should have. Sit down, Jack. Eat."

Jack took the chair North pointed to. A elf came trotting over, carrying a menu twice as tall as he was. Baby Tooth climbed down his sleeve to read it.

"Sorry, I can't help you guys any more. Pitch broke my staff." Jack rubbed at his chest. He noticed the Guardians all watched the movement.

"Could still be helpful."

"We wanted to ask you about it," Bunny said. "See, you have enormous power, you showed that a few nights ago when you froze all that sand." It looked a bit painful for him to admit it.

"Even if my staff wasn't broken, I don't know if I could do that again. Never had before and doubt I could again."

"Thing is Jack, you _are_ Guardian. You have not taken oath yet, but Manny says you are and so does the Globe. You got that power from us, because we are now connected."

"But you're different Jack," Tooth said.

Jack pointed to an item on the menu at random. The elf left to tell who ever was it cooking what he wanted. He didn't know what would be better, an elf cook who would mess up the food or a yeti one who shed his fur into everything he made.

"See," the fairy continued, "You're a Guardian no matter how much you deny it," Jack raised an eyebrow at that. "But your power doesn't primarily come from children believing in you, it comes from an object, your staff."

"So where'd you get?" Bunny demanded.

"I, I don't know. When I broke through the ice it was just lying there on the pond. When I touched it, it froze and I discovered it could make ice crystals. If anything, the Moon gave it to me."

"Manny!" North threw his hands into the air. "That sly man, I bet he did. We should ask him tonight to give us all objects."

"Do you think that will work?" Tooth practically buzzed with happiness and Jack was amused to see Baby Tooth twirl around his glass. A yeti came in and placed a stack of pancakes in front of Jack. He suddenly was very hungry and divided into the meal. Best pancakes ever, and not a trace of yeti hair.

"So what do you want to do today Jack?"

He paused in bringing his fork to his mouth. The pancakes had stolen his attention and he had obviously missed part of the conversation. "Well, I wouldn't say no to a proper tour of this place. After breakfast of course."

"Of course! Let us meet by Globe in an hour, I have some things to check up on."

Jack nodded and North left, leaving the rest of them at the table. Once again, Jack dug into his meal, lost to the taste. He normally didn't eat, he didn't have to, but he never realized he missed simply tasting things. When he finished, Jack pushed his plate aside and debated about asking for seconds.

"Um, Jack?"

He looked across the table at Tooth. Bunny had left, so it was just the two of them and Baby Tooth sleeping off a food coma. The fairy looked nervous, shifting in her chair, hands playing with something in her lap.

"Yeah?"

"I, uh, I was very worried when we found you. You looked awful."

"Thanks for finding me. How'd you do that anyway?"

"We can change the setting of the Globe. Normally it shows the children who believe, but it can also show minor guardians."

"Handy."

"Yes. But Jack, I...I'm sorry." She put her hands on the table and held between them was his teeth capsule. He had thought he lost it at the South Pole. "We, we really needed to know about your staff, so I accessed a memory."

"You what?!" He reached across the table to take the capsule from her hands and brought it up to cradle in against his aching chest. "These are my memories Tooth! Just cuz you collect and store them doesn't mean you have the right to look at them!"

"I know! I said I'm sorry."

Jack shot her an angry look and stormed out of the dining room. He realized he had no idea how to get back to his room so settled for going to the Globe a bit early. Maybe he could try to understand the mural of North and the yeti.

#####

Any other day, Jack would be paying rapt attention to North's tour and the work of the yeti.

Despite North's obvious deterioration, the yeti and elves were going strong. Many yeti were still making things, though Jack noted idly that it was more weapons that toys.

North seemed to notice he was a bit distracted. "Something on your mind Jack?"

Jack's hands in his sweatshirt pocket tightened their hold on the teeth capsule there. "No."

"Good, next room is my favorite."

Jack could see why. Here there was no sign that Christmas would not come in six months. The yeti at the workstations around the center shaft were involved with minute details, painting, testing, adding on the little extra parts with glue. Here though, they were actually inventing new toys.

The process involved lots of flying ice chips, mild explosions, and once in awhile something whizzing through the air.

Jack found his dark mood disappearing. "This is incredible!" He moved from table to table, pushing off the corner of one, jumping on to the edge of another. One yeti was working on a fairy doll with flapping wings, another on snapping silly putty. There were a few in the back mixing chemicals. As Jack watched, one of them had a beaker explode in his face, dying his mustache teal.

"I thought you might like it." North stood in the doorway and watched Jack move around. A little stiffly, but with most of his usual playful grace. "Yeti and I, we share a center."

"No wonder you work so well together. Do you put any input in the new toys?"

"No, I leave that to them. I build magical ice sculptures instead. Or, I did."

"Oh, right. But this is nice, Christmas isn't totally dead. You'll bring it back."

"Maybe. Though I do not think I will last that long. We have to make even a single child believe soon or we will be as we were before."

"I understand that's bad for Bunny, the Moon gave him quite a growth spurt, but surely your situation isn't that bad."

North tapped his cane on the ground. "I am very old man. When my powers disappear completely, I will have a harder time walking, maybe loose my mind like old people do. And then, I will die after a year or two. But I am lucky one, some will die when their powers are gone."

Jack was a little unnerved with the way North was looking at him. "What about someone like me? Whose power comes from an object? Now that it's broken..."

North shrugged. "Maybe you stay like this forever, maybe you go back to original person. But you are special, you are Guardian and connected to us. I think, in time, you will change back too."

"Hmm." Jack's thoughts again returned to the capsule and its memories.

"If only I had my staff, or the pieces, I could try to fix it."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you! We have those. We found them near you at the other pole and brought them."

"Really." What was with these Guardians, taking his personal property and not telling him? "I'd like it back."

"It's in your room."

Oh. Well then. That was okay.

"I saw the stable this morning, where are the reindeer?"

"No clue. They ran away after the last child stopped believing."

"Better than if they ran away Christmas Eve."

North just stared at him.

"Right, bad joke. Sorry."

"It's okay. That is you. You always say funny words to Bunny."

"I do, don't I?"

#####

Jack found the two halves of his staff leaning against the fireplace in his room.

Embarrassingly, he had to admit that when he had woken he thought they were pieces of kindling. If he thought that, it was very fortunate indeed that no one else had thrown them on the fire.

Not really expecting it to work, he took one piece in each hand and fitted them together. Nothing. With a sigh, he went to sit on the bed, bringing his broken staff with him so the pieces rested against the side board. Just like food, he didn't really sleep but he was feeling the draw of the pillow and covers. He hadn't even been awake for six hours.

Still, if he was feeling tired it meant he really needed to at least lie down. Jack slipped beneath the covers and brought the teeth capsule to lie on the pillow next to his eyes. It let out a faint whisper, _Jack_, in a voice he knew but didn't know how.

On instinct, he touched the mosaic and the room faded away.

His life flashed before his eyes. Climbing trees and hanging upside down from branches, pretending to be a monster while telling a story. Faces of his family and friends, his mother, his father, his two brothers, and his little sister. His little sister who was scared because the ice beneath them was cracking.

"Jack, I'm scared."

He was her big brother! His job was to make her smile and keep her safe, and right now he was failing. But games, games made everyone happy. So Jack thought one up, got her to safety, and fell through the ice.

And then came the Moon, his rays shining through the ice and water. As Jack felt his heart give it's last beat and his eyes slipped closed he felt moonlight on his hair as warm as sunlight and he just knew his brown locks were turning white. The moment he died as a human, he became Jack Frost, Guardian.

Jack startled out of the memories with a jolt, breathing heavily. He knew now that his staff was made by his grandfather as a boy and passed to his hands when Melvin died. He also knew that, technically, he was dead and to prove it he stopped breathing for five minutes and felt fine. But most importantly, he had the answer to the question he had first asked three hundred years ago and thousands of times since. The Moon had chosen him because his sister had believed he would keep her safe, and he had. Tooth and the other Guardians had said it, he was a Guardian because he was connected to them, because the Globe showed him as a white light. But it was only now that he really believed it.

The hours had passed, it was now early evening, but the Moon was visible out the window and Jack smiled at him. He was a Guardian!

There was a soft knock on the door. "Come in."

The door opened to revel a shy looking Tooth. "Good, you're awake. We, um, were going to talk to the Man in the Moon soon. I came to wake you."

Jack debated telling her about what he had seen and discovered, but decided not to. They were private memories, she had already seen too much.

"I'll be along in a moment."

"Okay."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry it took so long to get this up, but here it is!

Also a few housekeeping notes.

1) From a reader's perspective, I prefer the A03 interface and thus will probably soon make the full move there. Same username. I'm planning on finishing my current chapter fics here, but all new stuff will most likely just be on A03. Including two RotG one-shots I uploaded there last week.

2) I've been blogging for awhile and feel like, especially considering my living abroad from friends and family standpoint, it's a great way to keep in touch with people. So I want to do something for my fandom life. As fans, what are you more willing to follow? A blog, facebook account, tumblr, something else? Let me know please!


	4. Communication

Facets of Belief

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter Four - Communication**

* * *

"He awake?" Bunny asked when she returned, and Tooth nodded.

"He must still be healing with how much he slept today, but he'll be along in a bit."

North grunted in acknowledgment as he turned the crank that would open the window to the Man in the Moon. His snow globe sat on the Globe's control panel, he had recalled earlier that day that the Man in the Moon had given it too him, and if it was beyond ability to give them each new objects of power maybe they could learn to tap into the power the snow globe used to make portals.

Jack joined them, hair disheveled from sleep.

"Looks like you still need a few days of beauty sleep." Bunny japed.

"And you still need to grow just an inch around the belly to make a wonderful soccer ball."

Tooth sighed, jokes and poking fun at Bunny were good. Jack wasn't doing those earlier. She took it as a sign of his healing. He still was a bit stiff, but his grace wasn't completely hidden. She wondered if it would even return, or now that his power source was gone he would start to stiffen again and die. Tooth could return to be a crippled girl who could barely crawl, let alone walk, but she hated the idea of Jack dying.

"Does he normally answer your questions?" Jack asked North.

"I don't normally ask Manny questions, he tells me when he has something to say, says it, and leaves. But when I do ask, he does not often answer. Mysterious man, Manny. He likes us to figure things out for ourselves. We do eventually."

"True. But I think we're rather stuck here."

"Yes."

Tooth stared up at the window North had opened. It was small, the Man in the Mon would not be in it and able to communicate with them for long, but if need be North could move the window and they could catch the Man later in his orbit. She really hoped he answered their questions, because if they couldn't get their powers back soon they were all doomed.

Vaguely, she wondered if Pitch brought about a new Dark Age, if some of the current minor guardians would be promoted to Guardians, or if after she reverted a new girl would become the Tooth Fairy. She didn't like either option. Tooth had been the Tooth Fairy for so long that even though she knew she had been someone else before, she couldn't remember her original name. Flying and fawning over lateral incisors was her life. And no one could take care of her fairies as well as her.

Well, almost no one. Baby Tooth had found her way over to Jack and was rubbing the top of her head against his neck, making him smile. Giving up his staff for her had made quite the impression. Tooth wasn't entirely sure, if everything worked out, that her little fairy would return to Tooth Palace with her and not go live with Jack. Wherever that was.

"Here he comes." Bunny said, as blue light started to peer over the window's ledge. Tooth felt a brief tang of loss for Sandy, last time the dream maker had been the one to notice the Man in the Moon approaching, but it passed in favor of the weightiness of the issue.

"Manny!" North greeted with open arms. "We have to ask you serious question. Could you give us objects, like Jack's staff? Is it possible to get our powers back?"

Tooth didn't hear an answer, but that wasn't uncommon. Sometimes the Man spoke to all of them, sometimes just one. The look on North's face told her the big man wasn't hearing an answer. Bunny also didn't look like he was, but it was hard to read his face when it was this small.

She turned to look at Jack, just as he was washed in the light of the moon. He looked so beautiful, with the blue highlights in his hair, his mouth open slightly and showing off his teeth. Tooth didn't know what was going on, was the light on Jack the answer to North's question?

But then Jack's face filled with wonder and she knew the Man was talking to him. Tooth had gotten the impression at their first meeting that Jack had had many one sided conversations with their overseer since he became Jack Frost and the Man's silence had hurt him. What Jack was hearing now seemed to go a long way to mend that wound.

The light passed and North placed his hand on the crank. "Jack, what did he say? Do I need to move window?"

"No, I think he's done talking."

"Well, what did he say?" Bunny asked.

"Believe."

"I don't get it."

"I...maybe do. It's in the back of my mind, like the feeling you get when you're trying to recall where you've seen a face before. But I'm missing something." He began to pace, walking back and forth along the width of the corridor while the rest of the Guardians watched him with baited breath. Absently, he rubbed his chest while doing it. Tooth marveled at his fluidity. He flowed from one spot to another like liquid water, not the ice he worked with.

"I need snow." He blurted out. "I've been in here a bit too long. How do I get out North? I need to be in the snow."

North looked at Bunny and Tooth. None of them quite understood Jack's thought process, but if it led to a solution they were willing to indulge it.

"There is sled door, but also one the floor below that opens up to the rock the workshop was built on."

"Perfect, just let me grab something from my room and I'll see you there in five minutes."

Tooth watched him run off, something in his voice snagging on her insides. She almost felt her wings lift, but that had to be her imagination.

#####

Tooth went to grab her yeti shawl, remembered shoes this time, and secured Bunny in his lined bag before stepping out into the snow. Jack and North were already there, Jack standing near the edge of the plateau while North stood behind him.

As she got closer, she noticed Jack had one piece of his staff in each hand, eyes closed and face upturned to the wind. North put a finger on his lips and she came up beside him. "He's thinking," he whispered.

They stood out in the snow in silence for while. Tooth had never seen Jack so still while awake, he was always moving or twirling his staff. After awhile, she shivered. She was not meant for the cold, and if this was helping Jack there was no sign of it. Tooth could watch him stand there from a window in the Pole.

She tugged on North's sleeve to get his attention and he bent down to hear her whisper. "North, I'm going to go in."

He nodded, but before Tooth could turn to go Jack moved.

With sure steps, eyes still closed, he made his way to the every edge. Tooth was terrified he was going to fall over, but he was firmly rooted on the spot. Suddenly he whirled about and ran towards them. He thrust his staff pieces at North with a 'hold these' and then ran off the edge.

Tooth cried out in alarm as Jack was pulled downwards by gravity and ran towards where he disappeared. She peered over the edge, North beside her and Bunny in the bag doing the same. Jack was a shadowy figure below them quickly swallowed by the night. Faintly in the air she heard his shout of 'Wind!'

"What is he thinking?" Bunny yelled. "He can't survive that drop, it's what, five hundred feet?"

"We must trust in Jack. He would not jump to die," North answered.

"Did you not just see him take a running leap?"

"Maybe he thought something would happen?" Tooth suggested. She couldn't see Jack anymore, and that worried her. Instead, she looked up into the night sky to the Man in the Moon. "Is he alright?" she asked but she didn't get an answer.


	5. The Harshist Critic

Facets of Belief

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter Five – The Harshest Critic**

* * *

In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid thing to do. Run off a cliff in the dark when he wouldn't be able to tell when there would be a outcrop of rock in danger of hitting his face. But he had to do this, even if it killed him a second time. Call it a leap of faith.

Jack had jumped with his eyes closed and reveled in the feel of the wind tugging at his clothes and face. This, this was a little bit of home. "Wind!" he called out, and he felt it answer. It blew upwards and backwards, slowing his decent. Jack had never flown with his eyes closed before, but now that he wasn't watching where he was going he could feel the air surrounding him, enveloping him with a strangely warm touch.

He had always wondered how alive it was; was the wind like him, powered by the Moon, or simply an elemental force that had rudimentary sentience? It listened to Jack, took him where he asked to go, but it never talked or did anything but blow.

Now though, he could feel the wind as a person. The brush along his face was a welcome, the push against his chest a check-up, the warmth a statement of affection. The wind cared for him, and together they could do many things.

He'd never noticed the wind trying to talk to him before, and Jack wasn't sure 'talk' was the right word. There were no words in the air or in his head, but he just knew the wind's mind. The wind was his oldest friend, how had he not noticed before?

"Show me the skies," he whispered and let the wind take him where it wanted to. He didn't try to direct his course, Jack simply surrendered. He trusted the wind to not let him hit anything more solid than a cloud, nor drop him.

Jack didn't need his staff, or magic, to fly. He just need faith in his friend, to believe the wind wouldn't let him come to harm.

He opened his eyes and saw the world as he never had before. The wind showed him cities brimming with lights, the shape of mountain ranges, took him higher than he had ever dared to go to the point were Jack could see several States at once. He wondered if, since he didn't actually have to breath, he could fly into space, but the wind told him that it could not help him. The wind had limits and height was one of them.

Jack let the wind do what it wanted with him, but eventually his friend returned him to the Pole as dawn approached and the Guardian took control of his own direction. He swept through the sleigh's tunnel, dodging ice formations, and then rushed up through the lift shaft to the Globe, disturbing papers and yeti as he went. "Woo-hoo!" he shouted, waving at Phil as he zoomed by, the yeti grinned when he saw who it was.

Word of his arrival must had spread quickly, for when he landed on the Guardian crest in front of the Globe they were already waiting for him.

"Jack! You're flying!" North looked like he wanted to toss him in the ground, but he settled for bringing the younger Guardian into a one arm hug hampered by his hunch and cane.

"And without your staff." Tooth added.

"I don't think I ever needed it."

"What do you mean?"

"The staff doesn't make me fly, the wind does. Don't you see, it's just a different sort of belief!"

"Whoa nilly, slow down there. What do you mean a different sort of belief?"

"Tooth, do you believe your fairies will collect every tooth you tell them too?"

"Yes."

"And North, do you believe your reindeer can fly and the yeti make toys kids love?"

"Ye~s."

"And you Bunny, do you believe that your stone egg things can defend the Warren?"

"Of course, trained them myself."

"There you go, belief in your friends. That's the connection you guys were talking about before. I believe in you and you believe in me, we get power off of that. But there's something else. What makes you all confident Guardians?"

"The children?" Tooth ventured.

"Cuz the children have everything to do with Bunny thinking he can take on a greyhound."

"Nah mate, that was all me."

"Exactly!"

"I don't get it."

Jack sighed. These guys were so thick. But then again if you relied on the beliefs and opinions of others for so long it was probably hard to reverse it.

"North, what did you do with my staff?"

"It's right here," he started limping towards the mantle behind him but Jack flew there quicker.

"Listen," Jack began. "My ice didn't just come from my staff. I could make crystals with my fingers and make a snowball magical by breathing on it. My staff acted as a channel for my magic _because I believed it did._ Because when I first woke up, that's what it did, make ice. But for three hundred years I didn't have a single child believe in me, and maybe that was some of my own doing, but _I believed in myself_. I believed I could fly, so I could. I believed I could freeze things, so I could. And because I believed my staff was the source of my powers, when Pitch broke it they disappeared. But I know better now. I have faith in me, in my own abilities. I am Jack Frost, and I am a Guardian!"

With the last word, Jack thrust the ends of his staff together. From the crack exploded light the color of glacial ice. He couldn't see anything, the light was too bright, but he heard noises of surprise from the other Guardians. When the light faded, it revealed the entire room, including the Guardians, covered in ice.

Jack ignored their ice muddled words, it would melt in a bit and if not he'd help them break it off. Instead, he focused his attention on his staff. He ran his hand down the wood, there wasn't a single sign of the previous break. Everything was smooth. Jack couldn't help but smile. He knew his attempt to fix it this time would work, and that was all it needed.

There was a crack and Jack looked towards North. The ice encasing him was starting to fall apart. Jack hurried to help him, digging his fingers in the cracks and prying the pieces apart. Once North was on his way to freeing himself Jack moved over to help Tooth. Grabbing an elven trumpet from one of the shelves, Jack hit it against her shoulder a couple of times to start the cracks and then helped peel the ice off. By the time Tooth was free, North had Bunny almost out of the ice. His feet were still stuck solid.

Jack pushed off with his feet and went skating on the sheet of ice covering the floor. Tooth tried to follow him, but she didn't understand the motions of ice skating. "Jack! You've got your powers back! And your staff is healed!"

"Of course!" he laughed circling her. She tried to turn to follow him, but ended in a heap on the ice.

"Did you have to turn the room into skating pond?" North asked, chipping at Bunny's left foreleg with a small chisel.

"Nah, I just wanted to."

"Hold on a second here," Bunny demanded. "Are you saying if I just close my eyes and believe I'll be my normal size, I will be?"

"Yes!" Jack laughed. Really, it was such a incredible thing to think about, how could he not be happy? He had his powers back, and soon they would too.

Bunny closed his eyes and wiggled a little bit. "I'm big, I'm big, I'm big," he whispered. He waited a beat and then opened his eyes to see normal rabbit sized paws.

"Jack, you liar! What did you really do? What did Manny tell you?"

"I'm not lying Bunny! But you have to really, really believe it. Not just will it to happen, or wish it too. It's...it's walking on a telephone line and knowing you're not going to lose your balance."

"Or jumping off a cliff and knowing you will be fine?" North suggested.

"Don't do that again, you scared me!" Tooth interrupted.

Jack flashed Tooth a smile before addressing North with his answer. "Yes, exactly. You have to believe in it, one hundred percent. Granted, I don't think it will get you guys to full power. It's just one type of belief, but it's all we have at the moment."

"But my fairies can't fly, and the children Jack, if they don't believe I'll take their teeth, how can I?"

Jack crouched down to her position on the floor. "I know it's hard. And we are always our harshest critic. Because now I'm starting to think the reason no believed in me for three hundred years was because I didn't think anyone would. See, it works both ways. If you believe you are weak, you will be. If you believe you are strong, you will be."

"How did you do it Jack? How did you believe in yourself to restore your powers?"

"My memories. In them I saw," his death, his family, his answer, "I saw my sister. I saved her. It made me realize I really am a Guardian, because I've already saved children in the past and the Moon had nothing to do that. And that the Moon gave me powers, powers I've used countless times, that I could use as soon as I woke up, when I was too new to know anything. Just myself."

Tooth smiled sadly at him, and Jack could just tell she thought the sentiment nice but didn't actually believe it. None of them did, not really.

They needed a game.

* * *

** A/N:** Right, so Jack talked a lot and went on a monologue towards the end there. I hope it was clear, if not, here's what's going on in my head.

There are three types of belief: blind, trust, and self.

The first, blind belief, is when you believe in something without any proof. God is a common example, but it's also the type of belief children have in a lot of things – magic, mermaids, dragons, and of course the legendary figures that are the Guardians. While the easiest to shake (as soon as you recognize the wrapping paper Santa uses is the same as the roll sitting in your grandma's closest you stop believing in him), I also think it is the most powerful because there is nothing to support it as with the others. It's solely based on one's desire to believe in the object/person, and in many cases people twist their observations and experiences to line up with their blind faith because it's that strong (thus, seeing Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich). Because of this, it's the most powerful source of magic in this fic and something only the Guardian's have access to in bulk amounts. They are the only ones who are mainly powered by blind belief.

Trust, for a lack of a better description, is the belief you have in the people you know. This belief in others comes from your knowledge of them. You believe you sister will win her race because you see her practice all the time, you believe your doctor will give you the right diagnosis because he has years of schooling behind him, and you believe your martial arts teacher will pull his punches because you know he's a teacher and not someone who simply doesn't like your face. When you trust in someone, in any capacity, it comes with an expectation or belief that they will do certain things. You believe your friend will stick up for you and your dad will scare off any boy who stands at the door. And on a general level, you believe the police will help you and the guy with the Geek Squad polo can fix your laptop.

While this belief is a strong power source cuz it's constantly reinforced, it takes awhile to form because it requires a connection. Thus, it's (again) pretty much limited to Guardians only in this 'verse simply because I see spirits as solitary beings who don't really have the desire to socialize enough to develop this power source between them. The exception would be places heavy with localized spirits, such as Ireland and Wales (where natives pretty much believed everything around them was connected to the spirit world and so a spirit has lots of neighbors) or those belonging to a Parthenon, like the Greeks (because historically they all hang out together), but you don't see them much in RotG so I'm still deciding myself how they'd work in this 'verse. It's also impossible to force this belief on someone, thus Jack's problem in the movie.

Self belief is just that. See also self-assurance, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Like the trust belief, it's built upon experiences. You don't just suddenly believe you can ride a bike. You have to build up to that with practice sessions involving skinned knees, watching the neighbor learn before you, and your mom's encouragement in your ear as she pushes you down the sidewalk. This is the hardest to have, because no one is better at getting you down than you. As humans, we have a habit of being our worst critics, from 'I'm too fat' to 'It's too far away, I'll never make it'. However, once you believe you can do something, the effect multiplies. You tell yourself you can make this penalty kick, you do, and suddenly you're the team's go-to person for shoot-outs and each successful goal makes you believe in yourself more. Yes, it can go to your head and make you cocky, but it takes a lot to destroy that view of you being awesome which is what makes this type of belief so powerful and long lasting.

This is the power source that most of the spirits/minor guardians live off of because they don't have the Guardian's access to blind belief or trust belief. It can be very powerful in and of itself (the Blizzard of '68 being a prime example), but it's the one the Guardians are least familiar with. In my head, following the movie!cannon, they were all formed around the same time and started with a belief base that personally knew them. This means they were powered by trust belief first, and blind belief followed rather quickly. They've never really accessed this power source, because they've never had to. They have a bit of it (Bunny staring down Abby and North insisting everyone loves his sleigh), but they've always linked it in their mind to the power they get from the other types of belief so when those went away thanks to Pitch, so did the little self-belief they had. (Tooth especially is very insecure.)

North mentions that something that makes the Guardians special is how their belief base is connected to their center. It's essentially how people will reinforce their own blind belief, but being a Guardian North thinks it related to their centers. The Guardians have their own view of how the world works, that isn't always correct as you'll see later on. That capital 'G' and contact with Manny goes to their head and warps their mind at bit. It doesn't help that they don't really socialize outside of the four of them. (Which is why they knew of Jack, but never interacted with him before.)

Of course, it is because of their centers they were made into spirits to begin with. Like Jack, I picture each of the while human (or talking bunny) using their center to guard a child in someone and the immense of amount of trust/belief others had in them is what made Manny pick them out.

Hope that all makes sense to you!

Sorry if it was all boring, but well, I started writing this as a sweet hurt/comfort plot bunny and then it kinda turned into a manifesto of belief.


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